Gilbert Arenas was raised in Los Angeles and starred at Ulysses S. Grant High School in Van Nuys, CA.

Nick Young attended Cleveland HS in Reseda, CA, and played collegiately at USC.

DeShawn Stevenson (Washington Union HS, Fresno, CA) and Dominic McGuire (Lincoln HS, San Diego, CA) also played high school ball in California.

Clippers center/forward Aaron Williams was a member of the same New Jersey Nets Eastern Conference Champion squads for which Wizards Head Coach Eddie Jordan and Associate Head Coach Mike O’Koren served as assistants.

Williams appeared in 81 games for the Wizards during the 1999-00 NBA season…DeShawn Stevenson and Clippers guard Cuttino Mobley were teammates in Orlando for a short stint in 2004-05.

Clippers guard Brevin Knight appeared in 32 games for Washington during the 2003-04 season.

“The Toronto Raptors issued a Statement of Claim on Friday against the Spanish Basketball Federation regarding the non-payment of insurance proceeds related to Jorge Garbajosa’s injury. It is unfortunate that we’ve reached this point. The matter is now before the courts. Therefore we will respect the court process and not comment further while the matter is on-going.”

The Bucks have waived David Noel. All I really know about him is that he can jump high. Maybe that’s all the Bucks know, too.

More info: Currently in his second NBA season, Noel did not appear in a game for the Bucks this season. He missed 27 games with a right wrist injury and was inactive (36 games) or a coach’s decision (two games) for the other 38 contests for Milwaukee. As a rookie, Noel appeared in 68 games for the Bucks and averaged 2.7 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist per contest.

The InsideHoops.com basketball blog focuses almost entirely on the NBA, with some stuff on international, streetball and other men’s basketball, but when big WNBA news breaks I will occasionally mention it here.

Sue Bird is very cute, and a terrific pro basketball player, and her Seattle Storm WNBA team has re-signed her to a multi-year deal. This keeps her alongside Lauren Jackson. But the Storm are also loading up on other legends and have added Swin Cash and Sheryl Swoopes, two other stars that pretty much all basketball fans, whether they follow the NBA or not, know about.

Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs has been suspended one game without pay for striking Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets with his leg, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred following a foul call on Paul with 5:15 remaining in the third period of the Spurs’ 100-75 loss to the Hornets on Wednesday, March 12 at New Orleans Arena.

Bowen will serve his suspension tonight when the Spurs visit the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills.